2 killed, 2 critically burned in LA auto shop fire

LOS ANGELES 
Investigators combed through the debris of an East Los Angeles auto shop searching for clues to the cause of a fire that left two people dead and two with critical burns, fire officials said.

Two bodies were found inside the building, which rented out space to several small auto repair businesses. The victims' identities were not released Tuesday pending notification of relatives.

Some locals said eight to 11 people lived on the property.

"I repeatedly told them it wasn't safe for people to stay there," Pedro Zamora, who fixed transmissions at the shop, told the Los Angeles Times. "I thought of reporting it to the police, but I didn't want trouble."

Owner Faustino Gamez denied anyone lived there. He told the Times that a 61-year-old man who was badly burned but survived was an overnight guard. He acknowledged it has been hard to keep out trespassers, who sometimes jump a gate and climb down from a hole in the roof.

Gamez, who returned from a trip to Mexico, also said he suspected that workers had remained in the building to drink because he was gone.

The blaze left scorched vehicles and singed metal sidings. Signage on the building read Gamez Auto Center and offered tires, radiators, mufflers, glass and other auto repair.

Firefighters were not immediately summoned to fight the blaze by people at the site, fire Capt. Jaime Moore said.

"When this fire initially broke out, they tried to extinguish the fire using a garden hose and they delayed the 911 response because of their activities," Moore said. He did not say who made that decision.

Firefighters had to stay outside the building and surround it to prevent the blaze from spreading, Gales said. It took 124 firefighters more than an hour to douse the blaze.

The cause was under investigation.

Two men initially were taken to hospitals in critical condition but Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey did not know their conditions on Tuesday. One of them had first- and second-degree burns over 40 percent of his body, Gales said. A second man had burns on about 20 percent of his body.